The
articles in this issue have been divided up into the following categories

Destroying
Idols

The
move by Afghanistans religious leaders to destroy
the idols of Buddhism is to be applauded. They offend the
followers of monotheism, worshippers of the one true God,
Creator and Sustainer of our universe, especially Jews and
Moslems.

So
who is ranged against the courageous Afghan move? It is
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the fundamentalist regime
of Iran, the puritan kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the supreme
authority of Al Azhar Imam of Cairo. President Hosni Mubarak
tells the Afghans that Egypt has not destroyed the pharaonic
idols. But the followers of these idols no longer exist,
whereas Buddhism is thriving. The tradition of destroying
idols goes back to Abraham, ancestor of both Jews and Arabs.

What
makes Afghanistan head and shoulders above the rest of Islam?
It is the Jewish connection of the Afghan people. "The
Afghans have a tradition that they descend from the lost
Ten Tribes. They were carried away by Buktunaser. In the
book (Taaqati-Nasiri) a native book, it is stated that at
the time of the Shansabi Dynasty there were a people called
Bani Israel who settled in Ghor, S.E. of Herat, and about
the year 622 CE (the Hegra took place that year) converted
the Islam by a person called Qais or Kish, who led some
Afghan nobles to Arabia to embrace Islam. Mohammed greeted
him as "malik" (king) as he claimed descent through
47 generations from Saul. Qais died in 662 aged 87. All
the modern chiefs of Afghanisatan claim descent from him.
The Afghans still call themselves Beni-Israel. Their claim
to Israeli-tish descent is allowed by most Mohammedan writers.
King Amanullah Khan once stated they were of the tribe of
Benjamin." (Jewish Encyclopaedia).

Additional
references: Afghanistan (Khorasan in medieval Muslim and
Hebrew sources). Early Karaite and Rabbinite biblical commentators
regarded Khorasan as a location of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
Afghanistan annals also trace the Hebrew origin of some
of the Afghan tribes, in particular the Durrani, the Yussafzai
and the Afridi to King Saul (Talut). This belief appears
in the 17th century Afghan Chronicle, Makhzan-i-Afghan."
(Enc. Jud.)

Naim
Dangoor writes:

Years
ago I went to the Afghan Embassy in London to enquire if
it was known that the Afghan Royal Family was of Jewish
origin. I was told they will find out. Six months later
the Royal Family was toppled and the exiled Afghan king
still lives in Italy.

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